5 minute read
Home sweet home
WHEN IS THE RIGHT AGE TO BOARD?
Jack Avery, Head of Boarding at Cheltenham Prep gives his advice
• Every child’s boarding journey is individual. Some children take to boarding like a duck to water from the age of seven, while for others it might not be until age 11. However, it’s key that the child is included in any discussion about boarding, and that they understand and have a love for boarding too! • Flexi and occasional boarding is a great way to discover and develop your child’s readiness for boarding. At Cade House (the Cheltenham College Prep boarding house) some of our junior boarders (year three and year four) are flexi boarders (a regular night or nights each week) and some are occasional boarders which is boarding on an ad-hoc basis. We actively encourage parents to use flexi and occasional boarding solutions in year three and year four to develop a passion for boarding. After this, we encourage pupils to increase their evenings until hopefully by year seven and year eight, your child is boarding for a minimum of three nights.
sweetHome
HOME
Cheltenham College’s welcoming atmosphere, together with its inclusive, tight-knit boarding community, impressed the ISOTY judges. Nicola Huggett, Head of Cheltenham College, explains how this school spirit is achieved
STEAM subjects are taken seriously here, with enhanced science facilities and a digital learning strategy
Boarding at Cheltenham College is about community, fun, service to others and having the freedom to grow as a person. Most importantly, the college is a home, where pupils create and lead initiatives that support and empower all members of our community to develop the character, skills and values that are required in the modern world. ey all achieve highly, supported by ever-present, excellent pastoral care. We’re an 80-20 per cent boarding and day school who do boarding properly; boarding which is hugely popular with families who live near and far.
A home from home
Our house system plays a critical role in nurturing leadership skills. Within each house, which all have three residents including the Houseparents and full-time Matrons, we have created smaller ‘families’ or ‘clans’ consisting of pupils from each year group. is format enables friendships to be formed and fostered across year groups, encouraging older pupils to lead the house and provide positive role models for younger pupils. Friendly in-house family competitions are held throughout the academic year, ranging from garden olympiads to football tournaments!
A jam-packed social life
Our calendar of weekend events encourages wellbeing, develops leadership skills and positive participation. Our weekends are always busy and the majority of our pupils
The college’s exceptional library is the perfect space for boarders to immerse themselves in further study
The inter-house systems ensure that deep friendships and a community spirit is fostered within the student body Pupils never want to miss out on any of the school’s extracurricular fun and weekend boarding activities
Cheltenham College’s chapel is at the heart of school life, o ering an environment to gather as a community but also take space for refl ection
stay in to take advantage of them, even though some of our boarders live only a few miles away. Inter-house and whole school events are planned to build relationships between pupils across houses, and our pupil leadership team are empowered to organise their own funpacked charitable events; developing their own skills while bringing the community together for school-wide Zumbathons, colour runs, safari suppers and more. We’re fortunate that Cheltenham has fantastic local leisure facilities within walking distance. We always explore the festivals held within half a mile of us; literary, jazz, science and food.
e Say You’re in, Call it Out initiative promotes consultation, understanding and positive community values. Pupils signed up to a set of values set and agreed to by pupils themselves. Everyone explored and agreed how small behavioural changes have a vast impact on the community and expectations around the culture of standing up both for yourself and others. e objective is not just to tell a teacher of incidents that have taken place, but also to act upon it yourself. To not be bystanders but to have a common understanding of our community and values.
Living in a digital world
Our digital learning strategy develops not just technical skills, but a positive digital character too. Pupils have dedicated digital character sessions, undertaking online projects, hearing from expert speakers and exploring and setting their personal digital values for how they behave safely and positively online. We’ve signed up to the MeeToo mental health support app and a number of pupils – from every year group – are ambassadors for this app, encouraging young people to seek support from a safe, secure and knowledgeable source. e result is young people that are aware and understanding of how to be a positive digital citizen in today’s society.
Giving back to the community
Our Community Action work, each week sees more than 200 pupils volunteer their time to a range of local causes. Aspiring medics volunteer in the local hospital and we have pupils out in schools, charity shops, care homes and local charities every week. is helps to develop a culture of lifelong voluntary service and an awareness of communities of disadvantage, deprivation and disability. We are also founding members of the Cheltenham Educational Partnership of 11 schools working together and host inter-school activities to bring state and independent pupils together.
